Edison Research/Arbitron Internet and Multimedia Series released an interesting report entitled “Twitter Usage in America: 2010”. What really sets this report apart is the fact that they spent 3 years collecting and tracking usage.

The most interesting conclusion is the fact that “twitter is a broadcast channel” contrary to what many marketers believe. The majority of twitter users are lurkers and rarely post.

The report is filled with useful and actionable information but some interesting highlights include:

In 2 years, American’s awarness of twitter has increased from 5% to 87%

Although the level of awareness of Twitter now matches that of Facebook, the latter has significantly more active users. 7% of Americans actively use Twitter compared to 41% for Facebook.

Surprisingly 2/3 of Twitter users access the service from a mobile device.

The majority of Twitter users are passive information gatherers

Twitter users seem more likely to follow Brands/Companies than users of other social networks (51% of users)